CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

AtHB13 is a homeodomain-leucine zipper I transcription factor whose function in development is largely unknown. AtHB13 and AtHB23 mutant and silenced lines were characterized by expression studies, reciprocal crosses, complementation, molecular analyses and developmental phenotypes. athb13-1, athb13-2 mutant, athb23 silenced and athb13/athb23 double-silenced plants exhibited faster elongation rates of their inflorescence stems, whereas only athb13-1 and the double knockdown athb13/athb23 exhibited shorter siliques, fewer seeds and unfertilized ovules compared to WT. The cell sizes of mutant and WT plants were similar, indicating that these transcription factors probably affect cell division. Reciprocal crosses between athb13-1 and the WT genotype indicated that the silique defect was male-specific. Pollen hydration assays indicated that the pollen grains of the athb13-1 mutant were unable to germinate on stigmas. AtHB23-silenced plants exhibited normal siliques, whereas double-knockdown athb13/athb23 plants were similar to athb13-1 plants. Both AtHB13 and AtHB23 were able to rescue the abnormal silique phenotype. AtHB23 was up-regulated in athb13-2 plants, whereas its transcript levels in athb13-1 mutants were not significantly increased. Transcriptome analysis comparing athb13-1 and WT inflorescences revealed that a large number of genes, including several involved in pollen coat formation, are regulated by AtHB13. Finally, athb13-1 complementation with mutated versions of AtHB13 corroborated that two different tryptophans in its carboxy-terminus are essential. We conclude that AtHB13 and AtHB23 play independent, negative developmental roles in stem elongation, whereas only AtHB13 is crucial for pollen germination. Furthermore, AtHB23, which does not normally exert a functional role in pollen, can act as a substitute for AtHB13.